BIG Bead Sale at Tiger Beads

Time to clear out the inventory to make way for new items at Tiger Beads. I have many great bead deals listed, many strands below wholesale. Take a look. You may find just what you need for your next creation!

A Name Change

I decided to change the name of my jewelry from Testagrossa Jewelry Design to Maria Bella Jewelry. I have wanted to change the name for a while but was not sure what to change it to. Maria Bella was a name my father used to call me when I was very young. I think the new name sounds prettier, more feminine.

I have not been writing much on my blog since the beginning of the year. I do not have as much to show because I have not been making jewelry. I hope to get back to it very soon.

Looking for Wire Wrap Jewelry Artists

I have just started a "Top 100" list for wire wrap jewelry artists. It is essentially a directory where people can look for wire wrap artists all in one place. You can attach your blog or your website and I am hoping to create more traffic for you, and me.

If you are interested, please go to http://WireWrapJewelry.goTop100.com. And if you know other wire wrap artists that maybe interested, please pass the word. I believe the more talent listed will help everyone get more exposure.

A Fun New Feature

I was just reading an article on Rena Klingenberg's latest newsletter by Rita Juhlin about a cool new feature you could add to you blog. It is called LinkWithin and it is a great gadget that searches your blog and brings up three prior blog entries and places them under your post which relate to that post. You can see it on this blog. The posts are linked so anyone can click on your other stories. It's really cool! Try it out.

FedEx Delivers a New Order

Hurray! FedEx just delivered a new order from one of my suppliers. Always one of the best days in my whole life. Just a joke. My son used to say that whenever something good happened to him such as seeing a Batman movie or not having to go to school for some reason.

But it is exciting. Receiving new gemstones is like being a kid in a candy store. As a jewelry artist, these are the tools of the trade. Not the boring tools like pliers and wire cutters, but the pretty, fancy stuff, that enhance a design.

I ordered cabachons in different stones than I currently have available at Tiger Beads, and new briolettes, labradorite and iolite. I hope to get the photography started today so I can list them in the store.

Stop by soon, even just to look if you have an interest in gemstones.

A Short Vacation

My husband and I took a few days off together and went away to a remote cabin in Gasquet. It was perfect, just what we were looking for. Only problem was climbing up a mountain on a gravel toll road, almost 3 miles, then back down the mountain on a narrower, more gravely private road. Once we were there, it was beautiful. Rustic cabin overlooking the Smith River. Lots of quiet and time to connect. No phones, no computers. Time for us to unplug from our busy daily lives and just be together. That's what we needed.

New Cabachons

I am beginning to carry cabachons for ring and pendant designing. Some are calibrated in size and others have been cut to a custom size. The stones are beautiful. Take a look:


Prehnite Rounds


Moonstone Rounds


Turquoise


Charolite

I will be adding many more so keep coming back!

Misleading the Public with Gemstone Names

I read a very interesting forum on Etsy talking about how some "gemstones" are not really gems but glass, or a different stone dyed or treated to look like a certain stone. I found this forum both interesting and informative so I decided to do a little research of my own.

Gemstones are in the odd position of having one foot in the technical world of mineralogy and one foot in the commercial world of jewelry. The true names for gemstones are mostly derived from the Greek or Italian languages. The original names are meaningful and carry some significance while the fancy trade names that unscrupulous jewelers and dealers use are meant to influence innocent buyers into purchasing a less expensive stone at the price of a more valuable one. It's also a well-known fact in the jewelry industry that gemstones with difficult, confusing or obscure names are difficult to sell to the average consumer.

Here is a partial list of misnamed gemstones:

*Charoite is charoite. Not sugilite or purple stained agate.
*Goldstone is glass with copper in it. Not gold Not a stone.
*Cherry and blueberry quartz is glass.
*Crackle fire agate. Crackled? Yes. Fire agate? No.
*Green opal is chalcedony.
*Howlite Turquoise is not turquoise.
*There is no such thing as white turquoise.
*Any fruit or candy named gem is not that gem.
*Serpetine is not jade.
*African Turquoise is not turquoise - it is a variety of jasper found in Africa.
*African Jade is not jade but a type of garnet that resembles jade in color and texture.
*New Jade and Olive Jade are actually serpentine.
*Yellow Turquoise is usually a jasper or serpentine.

There is no:

*Russian Sugilite
*New Jade
*Sugilite Jasper
*Crab Fire Agate
*Chinese Charoite
*Flower Charoite
*Charoite Quartz

Generally speaking, be very skeptical of two-name names such as new jade, or yellow turquoise, of names with locations like Russian sugilite, or Chinese charoite, and of names with strange modifiers such as alabandine ruby or occidental diamond. Also, be careful of names that are not spelled correctly such as emeralda for emeralds.


For more information and an extensive list gems and names:
http://www.gemscape.com/html/misnomer.htm

Another valuable source for this article:
www.gemselect.com